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Sock & Buskin Biographies

JULIA MARLOWE

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Sock &? Biiskifi Biographies

JULIA MARLOWE

JOHN D. BARRY

Richard G. Badger l^ Co.

BOSTON

CnpYRir.HT 1899
By Richard G. Badger &f Co.

All Rights Reser-veJ

FA'

Sock &f Bicskin Biographies,

JULIA MARLOWE.
1.

IN the early seventies a party of English
colonists, most of them farmers, came from
the north of England to America, and set-
tled on the farm lands in Kansas. The
colony failed, and some of its members went
to Kansas City. Among them were John
Frost and his wife and three children, the
eldest of whom, Sarah Frances, born in the
village of Caldbeck, in Cumberlandshire, and
then about five years of age, is now known
to playgoers as Julia Marlowe. In Kansas
City, Frances Frost, as she was then called,
had her first schooling, continued later in
Cincinnati, where the family moved. In
Cincinnati, at the age of twelve, she made
her first appearance on the stage as a mem-

2 Sock & Buskin Biographies

ber of the chorus in a " Pinafore " company,
recruited very largely from the pupils of the
public schools in Cincinnati by Colonel
R. E. J. Miles, a theatrical manager of re-
pute, and directed by his sister-in-law, Miss
Ada Dow, a stock actress of considerable
experience. Later she played Sir Joseph
Porter under the name of Fanny Brough,
her mother's family name ; Suzanne, in
" The Chimes of Normandy " ; and a page
in " The Little Duke." She had a pretty
singing-voice ; and, though not a quick study,
she showed aptitude for stage work. It is
worth noting here that none of her family
had ever been known to be associated in any
way with the theatre.

In the next few years the name of Fanny
Brough appeared on the play bills as little
Heinrich in " Rip Van Winkle," in support
of Robert McWade, and later in the com-
pany of Miss Josephine Riley, an actress
whom Colonel Miles was starring through
the West. Her parts with Miss Riley in-
cluded Maria in "Twelfth Night," Balthazar
in " Romeo and Juliet," Stephen in " The

Parthcnia in •• Jnguinar "

Cc/'yright, i^'^S, by li.J. lalk, .\. Y

Parthciiia in " Ingomar "

yulia Marlowe 3

Hunchback," and Myrene in " Pygmalion
and Galatea." It is said that she played
Maria with great vivacity, though she was
hardly old enough to understand the lines.
At the age of sixteen, Fanny Brough dis-
appeared from the stage, and, under the di-
rection of Miss Dow, began a course of study
in New York, lasting for three years, in prep-
aration for her career as Julia Marlowe.
It has been said that Miss Dow is the
aunt of Julia Marlowe, but there is no rela-
tionship between them. Miss Marlowe has
herself explained that Miss Dow was her
adopted aunt. Her instruction consisted of
the study of plays, chiefly classical pieces,
the interpretation of the leading characters,
and of lessons in singing, fencing, deport-
ment, and in French. At eight o'clock in
the morning she would begin work, studying
till noon alone. After luncheon she would
put on a long-trained gown, and rehearse
with her aunt the character she had been
preparing. In her teaching. Miss Dow had
the wisdom to allow her pupil to develop
her own conceptions. She never explained

4 Sock & Buskin Biographies

how a line should be read or showed by
example how a character should be played.
She merely stood aside and criticised. In
this way Miss Marlowe, instead of imitating
her teacher, as many students of acting do,
learned to rely on herself, and to work on
original lines. The daily lesson lasted dur-
ing most of the afternoon, and was resumed
after dinner. Occasionally the monotony of
the tasks was broken by visits to the theatre.
During this time Julia Marlowe saw Mary
Anderson, Clara Morris, and a few other
well-known players. She was particularly
impressed by the acting of Miss Clara
Morris, from the study of whose deliberate
and effective methods she believes that she
received valuable suggestions.

At this time there were fewer schools of
acting in this country than there are now,
and an aspirant to the stage had usually
the choice of securing a precarious start in
playing small roles in inferior road-com-
panies, or of preparing for a more ambitious
beginning by studying with a retired actor
or with one of the manv teachers of elocu-

yulia Marlowe 5

tion. With few exceptions, the teachers of
elocution were very poor trainers for acting.
Their pupils were taught an absurdly artificial
manner of speech and affected tricks which,
after a little experience, if they were clever,
they soon learned to discard. Some of the
actors, however, were able to give helpful
instruction. Mary Anderson, for example,
sought the aid of the elder Vandenhofl^, who
for years had been teaching successfully in
New York. But most actors have little faith
in training for their work : they believe that
the only way to learn to act is by acting.
The best that the dramatic schools can do is
to give their pupils a sound education and
practice in playing a variety of parts. In
fact, if the first requirement is achieved, the
foundation is laid for a career justified by
talent. Without talent, no education in the
world can make a good actor. Most of our
players show their defects, not in lack of tem-
peramental qualities, but in vulgarities of
speech, manner, and taste. The theatre in
itself is a great school, but it rarely eradicates
defects that ought to have been overcome in

6 Sock & Buskin Biographies

early youth. Apparently, Miss Marlowe had
no serious defects of manner to overcome, or,
if she did. Miss Dow corrected them before
her pupil made a public appearance. On
her first appearance, Miss Marlowe spoke
the purest of all English, which is the Eng-
lish that betrays the accent of no particular
locality ; and she had the bearing of a well-
bred young woman. She says that in the
matter of carriage she was her own teacher.
One day she happened to catch a glimpse of
herself in a large mirror as she was walking.
She was startled by the ugly movement of
her hips, and she determined to correct the
fault at once. At the time she was passing
the summer on the Jersey coast ; and early
every morning she paced the shore with her
hands pressing down on her hips, till she had
remedied the fault. Even in her begin-
nings, she never offended against taste. She
had not, to be sure, the plasticity which
Lawrence Barrett used to insist upon as an
essential to good acting ; but she was young
enough to acquire it. By determining to
appear in a repertory, she was likely to

yulia Marlozve 7

acquire it much more rapidly than the aver-
age beginner, who is permitted to play only
a half-dozen parts in the same number of
years.

II.

A I' the beginning of her work, Miss Dow
had not thought of attempting to launch
Miss Marlowe as a star. But she became
convinced that her pupil would in time be-
come strong enough to play emotional and
classical parts at the head of a company.
So, after three years, she searched for a man-
ager ; but no manager would consent to try
to establish an unknown player. Finally,
in the spring of 1887, Colonel Miles organ-
ized a company, and took Miss Marlowe
for a brief tour through Connecticut, during
which she appeared as Parthenia. He also
engaged New York Bijou Theatre, then
called the Bijou Opera House, and arranged
to present Miss Marlowe there at a special
performance on the afternoon of Thursday,
Oct. 20, 1887.

The time chosen for introducing the
actress was more favorable than Miss Mar-
lowe's friends could have realized. There
were then few actresses on our stage who
were devoting themselves to legitimate plays,
8

Juliet in " Romeo and Juliet "

Parthenia in " Ingomar "

Julia Marlowe 9

and of these most of the more successful
came from France and England for visits of
a season at a time. Madame Modjeska, it
is true, was displaying her beautiful art in
a repertory largely classic ; and Miss Mary
Anderson, her fame magnified by successes
in Great Britain, could feel assured of attract-
ing enormous audiences in any American
theatre where she might appear. But even
at that time Miss Anderson was contem-
plating the retirement into private life, which
took place not long afterward; and Madame
Modjeska was no longer young. A few
years before. Miss Margaret Mather, an
actress with remarkable temperament, whose
first appearance had been noisily trumpeted,
had bitterly disappointed her first admirers,
her art growing more vulgar and coarse
with experience. So there was room in the
American theatre for an actress with ambition
to devote herself to the best in the drama,
who could bring to it youth, beauty, grace,
and temperament.

It was probably in order to display these
qualities to particular advantage that Miss

lo Sock & Buskin Biographies

Dow chose for her pupil's first appearance
Maria Lovell's well-known adaptation from
the German. "Ingomar" is not a great
play, but in its kind it is a good play.
Our audiences still love romance, but the
romance of action, the romance that Dumas
loved and that he passed on to Anthony
Hope, not the grandiloquent sentimentaliz-
ings of the German novelists and the old-
fashioned playwrights. Ten years ago " In-
gomar " had possibly a little more vitality
than is now left in it, though it has lately
been revived by so modern an actress as
Miss Julia Arthur. Much of its late popu-
larity was probably due to the success of
Mary Anderson in the leading part, which
peculiarly suited her rather declamatory stvle.
The audience that assembled to see Miss
Marlowe, it is safe to assume, was composed
very largely of cynical playgoers. In New
York the debutante^ before she has proven
that she possesses ability, is always an ob-
ject of amusement or pity, or both. The
first appearance of an actress in an important
character, however, is an interesting event ;

Julia Marlowe 1 1

and it generally fills a New York theatre.
It would be a mistake to say that those who
saw Miss Marlowe's Parthenia believed that
she was a great actress. Several experi-
enced judges of acting, however, thought
she had the qualifications that made a good
actress. A few even declared that she gave
the promise of greatness. The venture
served the purpose of attracting to her the
attention of theatrical managers, of influen-
tial actors, and of discerning critics. Before
a week had passed, Miss Marlowe received
several offers of engagements in travelling
companies, among others one from Mr.
William Gillette, who at once appreciated
her quality, and who believed that she was
ideally suited to an important character in a
new play which he was then preparing to
present on tour.

The significance of Miss Marlowe's first
appearance in New York makes the event
worth recording at some length. The cast
was as follows : —

Ingomar Mr. Frank Evans.

Alastor Mr. J. Brennan.

1 2 Sock & Bicskin B iographies

Myron Mr. C. Leslie Allen.

Timarch Mr. George Nash.

Polydor Mr. F. J. Currier.

Lykor Mr. B. Henderson.

Amytar Mr. J. Daymond.

Elphenor Mr. C. Williams.

Adrastas Mr. F. Walton.

Novio Mr. B. H. Pierce.

Trenobantes Mr. William Cummings.

Ambivar Mr. F. Wilson.

Samo Mr. L. Cotier.

Actea Miss Effie Wild.

Theano Miss Isabelle Waldron.

Parthenia Miss Julia Marlowe.

The notices of the dramatic critics show
plainly that Miss Marlowe gave the audi-
ence a surprise. Mr. William Winter, un-
fortunately, was not present : he may have
felt that it was not worth his while to go
to see a raw young actress disport herself.
Other critics of importance, however, were
there ; and the notice by Mr. Edward A.
Dithmar, of the Times^ a writer of sympathy
and discernment, is especially interesting.
Here it is, in part: —

" Miss Marlowe is not a spectacular

Julia Marlowe 13

Parthenia. She did not conquer by a
glance or a gesture. She is not statuesque.
She is comely and of good figure, but not
beautiful. Her eyes are the most attractive
feature of her face, which is uncommonly
mobile and intelligent. She depicted the
simplicity and love of the Greek maiden in
a sensible, straightforward manner that con-
vinced the minds and touched the hearts of
everybody present who had a mind and a
heart. Her work was marked by none of
the failings of the novice. Her touch was
always sure, and she impressed the critical
observer with a sense of the ability to cal-
culate beforehand the actual effect of every
look and gesture. This is a faculty that
three-fifths of the actors now on the stage
do not possess. Her conception of the
character was clear and reasonable ; her exe-
cution of it, womanly and, above all, intelli-
gent. She had no ' great moments.' She
made no conspicuous points.

" But her grasp of the character never
relaxed, and she preserved the illusion under
the most distressing surroundings. The

14 Sock & Buskin Biographies

episode of the song of love was treated
daintily and without exaggeration. The de-
fiance of Ingomar was true and affecting, and
not stagy. She expressed the anger of the
girl very vividly, and without resort to any
hackneyed artifice. She was equally suc-
cessful with every other phase of the role.
She did not carry her expression of love
to the limits of great, absorbing passion ; but
Parthenia is not a woman of strong passions.

" In depicting the ingenuousness of the
girl, she was not too coy. When she wept,
the tears seemed to be real ; and her smiles
seemed to be the reflection of a sunny
temperament. Her voice is strong and
pleasing ; and, if she has a singing voice,
it ought to be pure contralto. The tones
are never mannish ; and, best of all, she
speaks the English language very well."

The gentleman who used to write volum-
inously on the theatre under the pseudonym
of" Nym Crinkle " was also pleased with the
new actress. " The old, old story of ' Ingo-
mar,' " he wrote in the New York Worlds
" was told yesterday afternoon at the Bijou

\ iolu in ••Twcltth Nieht "'

Copyri^lit, /iii, I'V B.J. J-a/k, X.)'

Julia in •• The Hunchback "

Jtclia Marlowe 15

Theatre. It is a pretty story of the power
of affection over brute force, and it was told
with new earnestness and new gentleness by
a young woman who was unknown to her
audience, but who speedily won their atten-
tion and their respect for her sure dramatic
instinct and her delicate accuracy of method.
. . . Miss Julia Marlowe infused the old
lines with an intelligent charm, and, after
riveting the attention, commanded the ap-
probation by an effective, tender, and legiti-
mately dramatic rendering of the role. She
is a good-looking girl, of medium height,
with an expressive face and perfect command
of her powers. She betrayed none of the
usual nervousness of amateurs and none of
the self-consciousness of cerebral novices.
Her understanding of the inner significance
of Parthenia's part was clear, and her mani-
festation of it artistic, sympathetic, and
natural. To an intelligent purpose she
added a picturesque manner, and so, with
simple touches, adorned the old role and
won her observers delicately and irresistibly."
Less enthusiastic, but altogether encourag-

1 6 Sock & Buskin Biographies

ing, was the notice that appeared in the New
York Herald : —

" The impersonation, despite certain faults,
due chiefly to lack of much experience, was
in many ways charming and on occasion
forcible. The actress has a voice that falls
pleasantly on the ear, large, limpid eyes,
full of expression, and a mobile, sensitive
mouth. In stature Miss Marlowe is medium ;
and she is graceful, and made a pretty pict-
ure. The young lady read her lines with
full appreciation of their intention, and mir-
rored in her face, with delightful ingenuous-
ness, the workings of her mind and the
emotions which stirred her heart. It was a
pretty presentation of fresh young woman-
hood. The faults of the actress are a lack
of repose where it is called for, an excess of
gesturing, and too many bright smiles. At
times also she did too much by-play in looks
and action."

Among the warmest of Miss Marlowe's
admirers on this occasion was the late Colonel
Ingersoll. His published praises, copied
widely in the press, and commented on

yulia Marlowe 17

throughout the country, did much to start
the actress on the road to success.

When an actress begins her career at the
top, as the theatrical expression is, she is
likely to be subjected to pretty searching
criticism. Her severest critics, moreover,
usually belong to her own profession.
Actors who have served years of apprentice-
ship resent what they look upon as the
presumption of a novice in taking at the
start a position which has always been their
own goal, to be reached through hard
experience. Mary Anderson has described
in her autobiography the open ridicule to
which she was subjected from the members
of the company who played with her on her
first public appearance. Miss Marlowe,
however, does not appear to have suffered
from any such prejudice. Many critics, it
is true, denied her authority to appear in
leading roles ; but even from these she re-
ceived some encouragement. On the other
hand there were many more critics who
offered her the most stimulating praise. It
has lately been said that, when Miss Mar-

1 8 Sock & Buskin Biographies

lowe appeared as a star, she was really not
a novice; that her training as a child actress
had prepared her for her later career. It is
very much to be doubted, however, if her
brief stage experience as a child was of the
least service to her. Miss Marlowe herself
is inclined to believe that it was not. The
acting of a child is wholly different from that
of an adult. Most children can be taught
to act fairly well ; some of them, indeed, to
act delightfully, their unconsciousness en-
abling them to reproduce nature with ease
and simplicity. The effect that children
create so artlessly, however, is in the case
of most adult performers the result of
thought and of developed instinct. It is
nevertheless true that the art of the greatest
actors, the actors by temperament, most re-
sembles the artlessness of children. On the
stage they throw off their identities, and
become the character they impersonate.
Usually, however, the actor's talent, even
when it is a fine talent, is hampered by con-
sciousness, and, sometimes, paradoxical as it
may seem, by intelligence. The actor who

yulia Marlowe 19

relies on his capacity for developing a part
intellectually is in for more danger of blun-
dering than the temperamental actor, who
follows his instinct. This explains how
many a born actor can play with brilliancy
roles that he only partly understands. It
may safely be assumed that Miss Marlowe's
performances of the part of Maria in
" Twelfth Night," which she had learned
by rote*and interpreted with a child's faculty
for imitation and with genuine spirit, did not
in the least help her when she came to study
Viola. She had to learn to achieve effects
that she had once been able to achieve with-
out effort.

Time has justified the wisdom of Miss
Marlowe in refusing to take any of the
subordinate places in stock companies and
travelling organizations that were offered
her. If she had accepted one of them, her
whole career might have been changed. In
the first place, she would have been ham-
pered in her determination to become a
Shaksperian actress. There are so few
companies presenting Shakspere that a

20 Sock & Buskin Biographies

player has almost no chance to play Shak-
sperian parts. Moreover, as a subordinate
actress, Miss Marlowe would have had few
opportunities to develop. Most of our
American actors play one part a season, fre-
quently one part for several seasons. Conse-
quently, they fall into mechanical habits, and
they lose the training that they need. At
the time Miss Marlowe was making her
debut there were not more than * a half-
dozen stock companies of repute in the
whole country, and even these produced on
an average hardly more than three or four a
year. Now the situation is different : within
the past three years stock companies have
been established in most of the larger Amer-
ican cities ; and, by changing the bill every
week, they are giving their actors a valuable
experience.

As a subordinate member of a company.
Miss Marlowe would have suffered from the
suppression that cramps the individuality of
many a good player. She would have be-
come a minor figure in the stage picture.
Only actors and students of the every-day

Rusiiliiul ill •• A.s ^ (III l.ikf it

Beatrice in •• Much Ado about Nothing ""

Julia Marlowe 21

workings of the stage can realize what this
signifies. To an actor of originahty it often
means artistic degradation. It means, also,
that, when he has conceived a character in
his own way, his ideas may clash with those
of the star. Of course he will have to give
way and follow instructions, even if the in-
structions make his portraval imitative and
feeble. In the reading of the speeches, he
may be obliged to submerge his own intelli-
gence to an inferior interpretation. By this
interference many a good plaver has suffered
discouragement, occasionally even despair.
It often happens that actors are censured in
print for playing parts not in their own way
but in the way they have been ordered to
play them. All such tyranny Miss Mar-
lowe avoided by heading a company of her
own. She could hold the centre of the
stage, she could follow the dictates of her
own thought and instinct, she could be
judged on her own merits and faults. If
she failed, she could then fall back into the
ranks. She had everything to gain and
nothing to lose. The start once made, she
went valiantly on.

III.

AFTER the trial matinee, Miss Marlowe
retired to the country where she con-
tinued her studies. Mr. Henry E. Abbey
had been persuaded by the success of her
debut to let her have the Star Theatre in
New York for one week during the season
to come. So on the i8th of the following
December she made her first regular appear-
ance in New York, playing Juliet to the
Romeo of that impassioned and versatile
actor, Mr. Joseph Haworth. The New
York papers praised her, and she seemed to
have made an auspicious start.

Miss Marlowe showed the boldness of
the novice in undertaking, at so early a pe-
riod in her career, so difficult a Shaksperian
role as Juliet. The explanation of the attrac-
tion of this character for most actresses is
probably to be found in the variety of op-
portunity that it gives them. In the whole
range of Shaksperian drama there is not so
varied a part. Moreover, it is theatrically
a great piece of climatic development. In

Julia Marlowe 23

her first scene Juliet appears as a demure
school-girl. Then she becomes the eager,
impassioned woman, poetic and intense in
the balcony scene, playful in the scene with
the nurse, rising to sustained power in the
parting with Romeo, in the potion scene,
and in the situations at the tomb. Most
young actresses, on playing the part, make
a wild rush at Juliet, presenting her a
declamatory and shrill egoist. Miss Mar-
lowe, however, gave the impression that she
approached the character with timidity, as if
she could not wholly comprehend it, as if
she was, in fact, bewildered by it. In her
balcony scene she was tender and girlish,
but she never even suggested passion. The
scene of her first meeting with Romeo, how-
ever, and her wheedling of the nurse were
exquisitely played. If she did not rise to
the tragic intensity of the stronger situa-
tions, she never offended by attempting
what she could not achieve. Even in those
scenes where she frankly failed, she main-
tained a very beautiful dignity, and she held
her audience bv her sincerity and by the

24 Sock & Buskhi Biographies

charm with which she invested the char-
acter.

Miss Marlowe has since played the part
nearly every season. It is now become one
of her finest impersonations. Without los-
ing in poetic quality, it has gained in passion
and in vigor. The actress has not as yet
acquired sufficient power to bring out the
full horror of the potion scene ; but her
treatment of this difficult episode is a model
of discretion. In spite of its inadequacies,
her Juliet is unquestionably the best Juliet
that our stage has had in the past ten years.

Later in the week Miss Marlowe ap-
peared as Viola in " Twelfth Night," as Par-
thenia in " Ingomar." The beauty of her
Viola won instant recognition, and the best
friends of the actress realized that in this
part she ought to have made her first appeal
to the public. \vi. the whole Shaksperian
drama there is not a character that more
strongly demands temperamental and femi-
nine quality and fineness of fibre. That
Miss Marlowe should at the start have
made a success in this part was as good a

yulia Marlowe 25

proof as she could give ot her exceptional
endowment.

The few weeks following the engagement
at the Star Theatre must have been a trying
time for the young actress. Her prospects
looked doubttul, just as Mary Anderson's
had done before the first notable successes
were achieved. There were plenty of places
on the stage open to Miss Marlowe; but
she resolved to carry out her plan of leading
a company that should present a classical
repertory. In February she secured the
chance of appearing in a series of perform-
ances in Cincinnati ; and here, on the second
night, she made her first appearance in the
first leading part she had studied in New
York, — Julia, in "The Hunchback." The
character perfectly suited her, and she kept
it in her repertory for several seasons. Of all
her earlier impersonations it was, perhaps,
the most remarkable, deliciously girlish and
mirthful in the earlier scenes and deepening
in feeling and in beauty as the character
unfolds.

All these experiences, however, were

26 Sock & Buskin Biographies

merely preliminary. It was not till the
autumn of 1888 that Miss Marlowe began
her real career. The company engaged to
support her included such actors as Charles
Barron, for many years leading man at the
Boston Museum ; William Owen, the best
Shaksperian comedian in this country ;
Robert Taber, then winning his spurs as lead-
ing juvenile ; and Miss Mary Shaw, — ver-
satile and brilliant players, and notably suc-
cessful in Shaksperian works. They opened
in Washington, where Miss Marlowe was
warmly greeted. The engagement, however,
that may be said to have made certain her
future as a " star " began a few weeks
later in Boston. The Boston playgoers
of that period must remember the im-
pression she made on her audience. Re-
ports of her ability had come from New
York ; and on the first night they attracted
to the Mollis Street Theatre a large audi-
ence, which included the leading critics and
every student of the drama. The play was
" Ingomar," and Miss Marlowe's Parthenia
was received with astonishment and delight.

Imogen in " Cvnibclinc '"

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Charles Hart in " Rogues and Vagabonds"

yulia Marlowe 27

On the following evening " Twelfth Night "
was given, and to the writer of these lines
it will always be memorable as the first time
he ever saw Julia Marlowe play the part
with which he will always associate her. At
that time the actress was plainly a novice,
shy, even shrinking, with a curious, depre-
cating manner, as if imploring the patience of
the audience and afraid even of its applause.
And yet that manner added to the charm
of the performance. Moreover, the hesi-
tancy in action of this Viola was offset by
an unfaltering intelligence and correctness
in the reading of the lines, by a distinctness
of enunciation, and by the sweetest and
richest voice heard on the stage in many a
year. The girlish face, too, luminous with
sympathy without being really beautiful, had
an exquisite charm. Julia Marlowe had not
been on the stage five minutes before she
held the attention ot the audience.

It was by her performance of Viola
that Miss Marlowe convinced most play-
goers during her first season that a young
actress had arrived who was peculiarly fitted

28 Sock & Buskin Biographies

to play Shakspere. Her reading of Viola
speeches was a delight to the ear. Admirers
of Adelaide Neilson, who must have been
the most beloved actress of her time, one of
the most beloved actresses of all time, com-
pared Miss Marlowe's voice to hers. Her
diction, too, inspired the most -enthusiastic
praise. Unlike most actors of the present
day, even famous actors, she brought out the
music of the Shaksperian verse. There was
no living actress, with the possible exception
of Miss Ellen Terry, who could read with
such feeling and charm the lines begin-
ning : —

♦* A blank, my lord. She never told her love ;
But let concealment, like a worm in the bud.
Feed on her damask cheek."

Unlike another American actress who
undertook to play the part of Viola at about
this time, Miss Marlowe did not sentimental-
ize these lines : she read them simply and
modestly, letting them carry their own
pathos. The discretion and self-restraint
which she showed in this treatment of this

Julia Marlowe 29

speech and of other speeches similar in
character were perhaps the best proofs she
could have offered of her instinctive sense
of artistic propriety.

At the Wednesday matinee following her
performance of Viola, Miss Marlowe ap-
peared as Pauline in the " Lady of Lyons."
By including this piece in her repertory, she
followed in what might be called the pseudo-
classical tradition. Nearly all of the ambi-
tious emotional actresses of the past half-
century have wanted to play Pauline. As a
work of art, the drama is of course con-
temptible ; but it still has value as a piece
of theatrical property. Those of us who
like to take the theatre seriously or whose
business it is to write about plays are in-
clined to forget that audiences do not con-
sider motives and intentions scientifically,
weighing probabilities and listening to see if
phrases balance or wear a colloquial natural-
ness. They go to plays to be taken out of
themselves, and they are ready to let their
feelings be stirred, whether to mirth or
sympathy. Now "The Lady of Lyons,"

30 Sock & Buskin Biographies

stilted and forced as It is, makes a strong
appeal to the average theatre-goer. It first
interests, then it presents a sentimental
problem, which is always delicious. When
Claude Melnotte is inspired by a profound
passion for Pauline to win her through
deceit, and after being exposed, is driven
to the wild expedient of fleeing to the wars,
the spectator is on the qui vive to know
how those two people are to be brought
together again. To inflame curiosity is a
great triumph for the theatrical artificers, and
it secures for his work a long lease of life.
So, though " The Lady of Lyons " is being
slowly laughed out of existence, it is by no
means dead yet. At any rate, it served
Miss Marlowe to give a new exhibition of
her skill in the more delicate phases of her
art ; and it also, unfortunately, made a clear
revelation of her deficiencies. Her Pauline
was beautiful and tender and pathetic, but
it never fulfilled the requirements where
force and passion were to be expressed.

Later in the week, during the Boston
engagement, Miss Marlowe was seen as

yulia Marlowe 31

Juliet, which disappointed some of her sin-
cerest admirers, and as Julia in " The
Hunchback." In reviewing the whole of
this engagement, Miss Mildred Aldrich, a
critic of insight then writing for the Boston
Home Journal^ and one of the first to
appreciate Miss Marlowe's gifts, made with
reference to her Julia comments that give
a vivid picture of the impression the actress
made on her audiences at this time : " It
was in this role that Miss Marlowe showed
the wealth of her young nature to the best
advantage, and it was here likewise that what
she has yet to acquire was the most visible.
As a character, her Julia was lovable and
attractive. As a performance, it was kindled
with the most magnetic qualities of the
charming temperament of woman's complex
nature. As often happens. Miss Marlowe
was least successful with what would at first
sight seem the easiest, — the comedy of the
first act. Here her shyness had too often
a realistic rather than naturalistic eftect,
which gave discomfort to the spectator
rather than pleasure. With her success in

32 Sock & Buskin Biographies

the later scenes no such fault could be found.
Her sense of wounded pride against love
still alive in a proud heart had the true ring
of emotion, genuine and untheatrical, while
her scene with Master Walter, in which she
begs protection against herself, was well
worthy the tribute of tears that was paid it ;
and it was in this scene that the full beauty
of Miss Marlowe's voice revealed itself.
The tears that trembled in it without break-
ing one chord of its music were as welcome
to the ear as they were uncommon."

After her success as Viola, it might have
been expected that Miss Marlowe would
make a delightful Rosalind ; and during this
season she added the part to her repertory,
playing it,- however, only a comparatively
few times. Many of her admirers consider
that in this character she has done her best
work. In spite of its resemblance to Viola,
however, Rosalind is a far deeper, more
complex and difficult character. To play it,
an actress must absolutely let herself go.
Now this is what Miss Marlowe could not
do, what, in fact, she has not yet learned to

Cof-yrij^hl, iSqi, by B. J. tnlk\ N. i'.

Charlcb Han in •• Rogues and \ agabonJ> "

Copyright, iSqj. by H.J. Faik. .V. ) '

Constance in •• The Love Chase '"

Julia Marlowe 33

do. The discretion that serves her so ad-
mirably as Juhet, that keeps her from blun-
dering, hampers her Rosalind. It has
many good qualities : it is graceful, it is
merry, it is saturated with nice feeling ; but
it is always discreet. It lacks the abandon of
Miss Ada Rehan's Rosalind, the subtlety
of Madame Modjeska's. Nevertheless, it
surpasses both of these notable impersona-
tions in its realization of the girlish quali-
ties of the character. Those who are famil-
iar with Miss Marlowe's Rosalind are likely
never to forget the picture she makes, espe-
cially in the scenes in the forest, where she
seems to embody the very atmosphere of
the woods. It was in this part that the ac-
tress first used her adult singing voice, a
delicate, pretty mezzo-soprano, just strong
enough to fill the theatre. Miss Marlowe
has kept " As You Like It" in her reper-
tory during the whole of her career, and it
has proved one of her greatest popular suc-
cesses.

The emphatic success in Boston of Miss
Marlowe was repeated in Philadelphia, in

34 Sock & Buskin Biographies

Baltimore, and in Chicago, which have since
become great strongholds of her popularity.
In the smaller cities that she visited, too, she
received warm commendation. She won
favor not by skilful advertising or by personal
exploitation, but through her work alone.
A few years before a young debutante had
been sensationally advertised in the press
and exalted to a position which she could
not maintain. The methods adopted in the
management of Miss Marlowe were far
more sensible and dignified. Her appear-
ances were quietly announced in the news-
papers, and such further publicity as she
received came from the dramatic critics of
the various cities and towns that she visited
and from the friends that she made in her
audiences. Interviewers were unable to
reach her. Her work taxed her full
strength, and she had neither the time nor
the energy to discuss theories of acting.
Besides, as her manager used to explain
when the interviewers sought his inter-
cession. Miss Marlowe had nothing to say
in the press ; all that she had to say to the

Julia Marlowe 35

public she said across the foot-Hghts. This
reticence annoyed the reporter, but deepened
the respect for so self-respecting, reserved,
and simple a young actress. It helped to
place Miss Marlowe in the honorable posi-
tion that she now holds.

Great credit should be given to the
devotion of Miss Dow to Miss Marlowe
during this period. Though now a suc-
cessful actress, Miss Marlowe remained a
painstaking pupil. Miss Dow accompanied
her to every performance, and watched her
acting, offering encouragement and criticism.

IV.

IN her second season Miss Marlowe, ac-
companied by Mr, Eben Plympton, who
succeeded Mr. Taber in the leading juvenile
roles, made a strong feature of her Rosalind
and added to her repertory the comedy of
" Pygmalion and Galatea." A few years be-
fore, Mary Anderson had made one of her
greatest American successes as Galatea, and
had chosen it for her debut in England, cap-
turing London on the first night. There are
many of us who think that Galatea was
the best impersonation Miss Anderson ever
achieved, not excepting her wonderfully vital
and poetic acting of Perdita in "The Winter's
Tale." Indeed, Miss Anderson might have
been created to play this part ; and on seeing
her in it, after seeing several of the most
popular English actresses of his time under-
take It, W. S. Gilbert must have felt as if
he had unconsciously written it for her. As
the statue, Miss Anderson's uncommonly
tall and graceful figure created a perfect
illusion. It was easy to understand how, in
36

yulia Marlowe 37

London, one spectator made a wager that,
in place of the actress, a marble figure stood
on the pedestal. Throughout her imperson-
ation her face never assumed flesh tints ; and
her acting as well as her looks made it im-
possible for you to forget that she was not
of flesh, but had been hewn out of stone.
She struck the note of absolute ingenuous-
ness. Other actresses had made more
" points " in the part ; but no actress had
given so consistent and satisfying imper-
sonation. Mrs. Kendal, who played the
role many vears ago, used to make a
point in the scene where Galatea first sees
blood. Here Miss Anderson, like most ac-
tresses, would shudder, and ask, with terror,
what the strange thing was. Mrs. Kendal,
on the contrary, dipped her finger in the
blood and made a line with it, looking at it
with a curiosity and wonder that emphasized
Galatea's ignorance of life. Like Miss
Anderson's, the Galatea of Julia Marlowe
was played on conventional lines. Though
Miss Marlowe is not a large woman, she is
able to create on the stage the illusion of

38 Sock & Buskin Biographies

height; and, though her face and figure have
not Miss Anderson's classic outlines, she
made a very beautiful picture as she stood
on the pedestal. In speech and bearing,
too, she kept the character simple and
poetic. After descending from the pedestal.
Miss Marlowe allowed color to appear in her
face, — a precedent since followed by Miss
Julia Arthur. Those of us who admired
Miss Anderson's Galatea are likely to favor
her treatment of the character in this regard ;
but, of course, it is largely a matter of taste.
Miss Marlowe might say, " But if Galatea
opens her eyes, and shows eyes that are
human, why shouldn't her face look human ? "
On the other hand, it might be asked, " If
Galatea's complexion is to assume the tints
of life, why should her hair remain the color
of marble, as it always does ? "

In the following autumn Miss Marlowe
began her third year of work with very
ambitious plans. Mr. Creston Clarke,
nephew of Edwin Booth and a romantic
actor of promise, became her leading man ;
and she announced productions of " Much

C«/>yrif;/it. lf\()_;, h' II. J. I- it Ik, N. )

Con>taiuc ill " I'lic Love Clia.sc "'

Copyriglit, iS,C)4, hy H.J. Falk, X.V

Lctitia in " The Belle's Stratagem "

yulia Marlowe 39

Ado about Nothing" and " Cymbeline,"
I*",arlv in the season she first played in the
smaller places Beatrice and Imogen, prepar-
atory to presenting them in the larger cities.
A few weeks after starting out, however,
while appearing in Philadelphia, she was
stricken with typhoid fever. It was thought
that Miss Marlowe would not be able to
return to the stage till the following season,
and the company was disbanded ; but a
long rest restored her strength, and she
made her reappearance in Baltimore early in
March.

This experience was the indirect means
of placing Miss Marlowe on a footing of
independence. Since the beginning of her
career she had been bound by a severe con-
tract with Miss Dow, which left her no
liberty. From this contract she secured
her release, and her business relations with
Miss Dow came to an end. Then Miss
Marlowe emerged from the strict seclusion
in which she had been kept. She entered
with zest, increased perhaps by her long
reserve, into the social amusements that

40 Sock & Btiskin Biographies

were offered her. She is now one of the
most personally popular of our actresses.

After her broken season, Miss Marlowe
resumed work in the autumn of 1891 with
practically the repertory in which she had
appeared the year before, making stronger
features of her Beatrice and Cymbeline,
and presenting in conjunction with " Pyg-
malion and Galatea " a one-act piece written
for her by Malcolm Bell, called " Rogues
and Vagabonds." Mr. Robert Taber re-
turned to her company as leading juvenile
to play roles in which he had already been
seen with her, as well as Benedick and
Cymbeline.

In " Rogues and Vagabonds " Miss Mar-
lowe had a graceful success. The piece was
a pretty comedy, well worth a place in a
repertory. It told how Charles Hart, a
famous actor of women's characters, and
later of men's, of the seventeenth century,
impersonated a woman, and taught a young
lover how to woo and win the woman he
himself loved. It was, of course, a scene
from "As You Like It" in new shape, but

Jtclia Marlowe 41

none the less clever and serviceable for this
reason. It belonged to that class of plays
written to enable actors to display their ver-
satility. Sometimes these are good plavs :
often their only merit consists in the fulfil-
ment of their immediate purpose. One of
the best short comedies written by a modern
dramatist is a piece of this kind, " Comedy
and Tragedy," devised by Mr. W. S. Gil-
bert to exploit Miss Mary Anderson, and
worthy of the abilities of a Bernhardt.
There were moments in *' Rogues and Vag-
abonds " when the part of Charles Hart
went beyond the scope of Miss Marlowe;
but in the expression of whimsical tender-
ness, and in her meeting of the lovers at the
close, the actress achieved something like a
triumph.

The character of Beatrice is not placed
among the greatest successes of Miss Mar-
lowe. That she made it charming need
hardly be said. In fict, like most actresses
who undertake the role, she tried to soften
the sterner side ot the woman and to em-
phasize the high spirits, the humor, and the

42 Sock & Buskin Biographies

tenderness. The faults of the impersonation
were summed up, when it was first seen in
Boston, by Mr. H. A. Clapp, the well-
known dramatic critic and Shaksperian stu-
dent. " The more brilliant speeches," he
wrote in the Daily Advertiser^ "were forced
to yield a humorous flavor, but did not
make their true vivid appeal to the under-
standing and the imagination. Very often
the touch was light and youthful, seldom
was there any illuminating fancy. * But
there was a star danced, and under that I
was born,' amounted to nothing more than
a good-natured pleasantry. In short, the
quality of intellectual force, the fire, definite-
ness, and originality of Beatrice's intellect
were inadequately expressed or often quite
eclipsed. The same criticism fits Miss Mar-
lowe's effort on the emotional side. She
was frequently sweet, bewitching, and piquant
in her scenes with Benedick ; but Beatrice's
passionate depth of nature was scarcely indi-
cated, the great representative verses begin-
ning, 'What fire is this in mine ears? Can
this be true?' from which Miss Marlowe

y till a Marlowe 43

last night omitted the first six words, strik-
ing her key-note with a weak and superficial
tone. In the opening scenes Miss Marlowe
undoubtedly departed far from Shakspere's
idea in representing Beatrice as frankly, con-
sciously, almost gently, coquetting with Ben-
edick, even to the extent of flirting a rosebud
under his nose to attract his attention. But
it is to be presumed that the innovations
were deliberate and a part of the general
lightness of the actress's scheme."

The fault that Mr. Clapp found with the
Beatrice of Miss Marlowe, its lack of depth,
touched upon her greatest weakness at this
time. She apparently could not develop
beyond the expression ot a delicate and
poetic tenderness ; but to be able to realize
this quality was in itself a rare gitt, and it
eminently served in the impersonation of
Imogen, a part too much neglected among
even the most ambitious of modern actresses.
In recent years Miss Margaret Mather de-
graded it, but Madame Modjeska brought
out all its poetrv. Miss Marlowe could not
bring to the part the sureness of method and

44 Sock & Buskin Biographies

the variety with which the more experienced
actresses had played it, but her Imogen must
be set down as one of her most satisfying
Shaksperian impersonations. A writer in
the Boston Transcript^ a paper conspicuous
for the incisiveness of its dramatic criticisms,
wrote on the occasion of Miss Marlowe's
first appearance in Boston in " Cymbeline " :
" Miss Marlowe's Imogen may be set down
without hesitation as her finest effort so far.
Considering the wondrous completeness and
many-sidedness of the character, and the
consequent extreme difficulty of the part,
this should be a matter of no little satisfac-
tion to her friends and admirers, to those
who build upon her past achievements hopes
of even better things in the future. Upon
the whole. Miss Marlowe's talent has shown
from the beginning this in common with
Henry Irving's, — that it is predominantly a
talent for dramatic delineation. She has
conspicuously the power, by no means com-
mon on the stage, of seeming for that time
of being absolutely at one with the character
she impersonates. Her specifically histrionic

Letitia in •• The Belle's Stratagem "

Copyright, lSg4, hy B.J. Falk, X.Y

As Chatterton

Julia Marlowe 45

skill may at times fall short of showing the
character in a very strong light, but the illu-
sion she produces of really being the char-
acter she assumes to be is none the less
complete and constant."

At the opening of the season of 1892-93,
Miss Marlowe had an exceptionally large
repertory. Thus far, however, her appear-
ances had been confined chiefly to the East-
ern and Middle States. Her manager
decided to plan a tour for the season that
should take her as far west as the Pacific
coast. So the early winter found her in Cal-
ifornia, from which she travelled as far east
as Boston. The only new part which she
assumed this season was Constance in
" The Love Chase," the old comedy by
Sheridan Knowles, now seldom revived. It
was well worth reviving, however ; and it
gave Miss Marlowe her first training in old
comedy, a most valuable school of art,
and it also offered her a part peculiarly
suitable to her youth and to her simple
methods. In this performance she had the
co-operation of Mrs. John Drew, specially

46 Sock & Buskhi Biographies

engaged to play the " Widow Green." Miss
Marlowe did not keep " The Love Chase "
long in her repertory ; though, in the fol-
lowing season, she revived it with Miss
Rose Eytinge as " the Widow," and she
has since occasionally repeated it.

V.

DURING the season of 1893-94 Miss
Marlowe appeared in two new parts, —
Letitia Hardy in " The Belle's Stratagem,"
rearranged for her by Mr. Edward Fales
Coward, and as Chatterton in a new piece
of that name written for her by Mr. Ernest
Lacy, a young American. Mr. Taber, after
two consecutive seasons as leading juvenile
of the company, again retired and undertook
other engagements ; and the position was
assumed by Mr. Henry Jewett.

Admirers of Ellen Terry who have seen
the actress as Letitia Hardy will remem-
ber how Miss Terry infused life into Mrs.
Cowley's eighteenth-century comedy. Miss
Marlowe could not, of course, be expected
to lend it the authority and the grace of the
most brilliant comedy actress of her time.
But she justified the revival by the charm,
the delicacy, and the vivacity with which she
played the chief character and by the quaint
pictures she made in the dress of the period.
She did not keep the piece in her repertory,

47

48 Sock & Buskin Biographies

perhaps because she found that her audiences
were not sufficiently responsive to the anti-
quated situations and jests.

More important was the production of
" Chatterton." It took courage on the part
of Miss Marlowe to present a poetic drama.
As all students of the American theatre
know, most actors and managers are afraid
of blank verse. They think that audiences
dislike it. This prejudice explains why, in
the first place, our own poets so rarely
undertake to write in dramatic form, and
why those who do are forced to present their
plays almost wholly through the medium of
book publication. Mr. Lacy was fortunate
in choosing a subject that made a strong
appeal to Miss Marlowe. The mere men-
tion of Chatterton's name arouses sympathy.
Early in the century Alfred de Vigny had
made him the subject of one of his dramas.
Reference is made to this work by Emile
Zola in " Naturalism in the Theatre." It
is interesting, apart from its connection with
the subject, as showing Zola in the role of
dramatic critic and humorist. " My deepest

yulia Marlowe 49

interest," he says, " indeed, mv solely great
interest, during the evening was the famous
staircase. And I am convinced that the
leading actor in the drama is this staircase.
Mark how it succeeds. In the first act,
when Chatterton appears at the top and
slowly descends, his entrance is made much
more effective than it would have been, had
he simply come through a door on to the
scene. In the second act, when the children
of Kitty Bell are sent to carry some fruit to
the poet, it is delightful to see the little legs
of those adorable children hoist them up
each stair: again it is the staircase. Finally,
in the last act, the role of the staircase be-
comes altogether clear. It is at the foot of
the stairs that the mutual confession of love
made by Chatterton and Kitty Bell takes
place, and it is over the banisters that they
exchange a kiss. The agony of the poisoned
Chatterton is rendered the more horrible to
see as he climbs the stairs, dragging himself
up. Finally, Kitty mounts slowly on her
hands and knees, opens the door of the poet's
chamber, sees him dead, falls backward, and

50 Sock & Buskin Biographies

slides down the whole length of the ban-
isters, to turn over and fall against the
proscenium at the bottom. The staircase, —
always the staircase. Suppose for an instant
that the staircase were not there. Imagine
a flat scene, and ask yourself what the
efi^ect would be. It would be diminished to
nothing, and the play lose the little vitality
that remains to it. Fancy that Kitty Bell
opened a door at the back of the stage, and
recoiled. That would be meagre. Why,
then, is not this accessory, the staircase,
raised to the role of principal character ? "
A few years ago Mr. Wilson Barrett won
considerable success in England and in this
country in a short play by Henry Arthur
Jones and H. Herman, founded on the
story of Chatterton's career. Without being
in any way remarkable, it contained some
extremely effective situations, which Mr.
Barrett played with his characteristically
melodramatic vigor. Mr. Lacv's work,
like the version used by Mr. Barrett, con-
cerned itself with the tragic close of the young
poet's life. The Barrett version had intro-
duced what actors call a strong " heart-inter-

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rTirfi^HW

Lad\ Teazle in •• The School tor Scandal

Julia Marlowe 51

est" in the love ot Chatterton for a young
woman whom he believed to be indifferent
to him. After taking poison in despair at
his poverty and the hopelessness of his fate,
he finds a letter which she has left for him
at his lodgings, which makes life dear to him
again. So the pathos of his death is intensi-
fied. Mr. Lacy used in his work only four
characters : the poet himself, the landlady of
the lodgings, and a London tradesman, for
whom Chatterton, according to his habit,
had provided a fictitious pedigree, and the
tradesman's daughter. On discovering the
cheat, the tradesman had called with the girl
to remonstrate. But Chatterton succeeds in
softening his wrath, and so works on the
sympathies of the daughter that she leaves
a purse for him. This charity he scorns,
and ends his miseries with poison. As a
drama, Mr. Lacy's piece suffered from inad-
equate construction. It seemed more like a
biographical sketch in dramatic form, with
very little tragical connection between the
scenes. In the title part, however. Miss
Marlowe had a genuine success, notably in
depicting the mute jxithos of the character.

VI.

EARLY in the spring of 1894 Miss
Marlowe became the wife of Mr.
Robert Taber. In every respect the mar-
riage seemed to be ideal. Both were
young, both were devoted to their work,
both were ambitious. Most marriages be-
tween actors carry with them the promise of
unhappiness ; husband and wife, unless they
belong to stock companies, are almost inevi-
tably separated, sometimes for months at a
time. Home life is impossible, save for
comparatively brief periods each year. In
the case of the Tabers, however, the condi-
tions, it was thought, would be different.
They would act together, as they had done
before; and each would stimulate the ambi-
tion of the other. The stage had already
given examples of happy marriages among
successful co-stars, the most conspicuous
being, perhaps, the case of Mr. and Mrs.
W. H. Kendal. It was known, of course,
that many managers believed the public did
not care to see husband and wife act to-
5*

Julia Marlowe 53

gether, but the Tabers hoped to be judged
solely on their artistic merits.

Already Mr. Taber had achieved a high
place on the American stage. He had the
advantage of being well born and well edu-
cated. So he brought to the theatre intelli-
gence and good manners, — qualities not so
common among plavers that they may be
taken for granted. His father was a cotton-
merchant of New York ; and two of his
brothers had begun careers which have since
given them honorable places in life, one as
an artist and the other as professor of mathe-
matics in Clark University. Mr. Taber
was trained for the stage at the dramatic
school of Mr. Franklin Sargent, which has
introduced many good actors. His first
professional work was done as a subordinate
member of Madame Modjeska's company,
in which he was so fortunate as to enjoy
the advantages of playing small Shaksperian
parts and of being associated with a great
artist. Even then he was noticed for his
fine physique, his rather handsome face, and
for his intelligent readings and clear voice

54 Sock & Buskin Biographies

and diction. His engagement as leading
juvenile with Miss Marlowe gave him ex-
ceptional chances. He had a variety of
parts, including Romeo, Claude Melnotte,
Orlando, Orsino, Ingomar, and Clifford in
"The Hunchback." His advance was, per-
haps, a little too rapid for his abilities ; but
he did his work with a crude vigor, — that
is, he overdid it. Unlike Miss Marlowe,
whose development has been to reach a part
slowly by underplaying it, Mr. Taber at-
tacked his new roles with violence. He suf-
fered, too, from self-consciousness, which,
besides being responsible for other defects,
made it almost impossible for him to make
a graceful exit. After leaving Miss Mar-
lowe's company, he had a valuable experience
in modern parts with the companies of
Richard Mansfield and Rose Coghlan, as
well as with a company organized to play
the once popular melodrama " Roger La
Honte," in which he had a popular success
as the hero. When Mr. Taber returned to
Miss Marlowe, he showed an unusual and a
very praiseworthy ambition to broaden his

ytilia Marlowe 55

work by attempting character parts, usually
given to older men. Instead of the roman-
tic Orsino in " Twelfth Night," for example,
he played Malvolio. He used to say that
he preferred to appear in roles in which he
could sink his identity. The romantic
actor nearly always thrusts forward his own
personality, and the character actor usually
strives to depict a personality wholly differ-
ent from his own. Mr. Taber has proved
the wisdom of his ambition by doing his
best work in those parts where he has relied
least on his personal appearance and most on
the actor's power of impersonation. At the
time of his marriage he was able to look
back on about ten years of arduous and
varied work, which offered justification for
his ambition to take his place on equal
terms with an actress who during the same
period, had been establishing herself as one
of the most successful on the American stage.
During the season after her marriage
Miss Marlowe was billed as Julia Marlowe-
Taber. Retaining several of the pieces with
which she had become identified, she matie

56 Sock & Buskin Biographies

in addition two interesting productions:
" The School for Scandal " and a condensed
version of Browning's " Colombe's Birth-
day." As Lady Teazle, she was subjected
to comparison with Miss Ada Rehan, who
was then winning considerable success in the
character, as well as with actresses of a past
generation, who had been as members of the
old stock .companies trained in the traditions
of old comedy. The performance lacked
the brilliancy of Miss Rehan's, but it had a
simplicity and a directness that Miss Rehan's
work seldom displays. Miss Marlowe's pro-
duction was, as might have been expected,
Sheridan up to date. Perhaps it would be
even truer to say, in the words applied by the
great comedian, William Warren, so long a
favorite at the Boston Museum, to Mr. Jo-
seph Jefferson's production of " The Rivals,"
that it was " Sheridan twenty miles away."
It appears impossible at this time to bring
actors together who can give the flavor of old
comedy. Miss Marlowe was able to present
only a one-sided picture of Lady Teazle,
making the character light and gay and

i

1'rim.c Ilcnrv in '• Hcin\ 1 \

Copyrii;ht, Ibqii, by H.J. /-a/'k. .\ . J

Lydia Languish in " The Rivals "

yulia Marlowe 57

essentially noble-minded. Much, of course,
may be said in favor of this interpretation;
but it leaves out a few important and inter-
esting qualities. Lady Teazle cannot be
ranked among Miss Marlowe's successes.
The character was too subtle and too in-
volved to be within the range of the ac-
tress at the time she undertook it.

By producing " Colombe's Birthday,"
Miss Marlowe showed courage, initiative,
and fine poetic appreciation. A new ver-
sion had been prepared for her by Rose
Eytinge and S. Ada Fisher, who had skil-
fiilly stripped the poem of Browning's philo-
sophical passages, and arranged in coherent
form its dramatic situations. Miss Marlowe
gave this piece only a comparatively few times,
and not once in New York. She probably
thought that New York would have little
patience with Browning. Indeed, Browning
as a writer for the stage has never received
much appreciation. Lawrence Barrett, to
be sure, had some success in his version of
"A Blot in the Scutcheon"; but he did
not keep the piece long in his repertory.

58 Sock & Buskin Biographies

Here and there, too, in the history of our
stage in the past fifty years, attempts have
been made to give plays by Browning,
chiefly, however, by cultivated amateurs.
Mr. H. A. Clapp, in his notice of Miss
Marlowe's production, recorded in the Bos-
ton Daily Advertiser that "the single pre-
vious public representation of the work in
Boston took place at the Howard Athe-
naeum on the 1 6th of February, 1854, when
Mrs. Jean Davenport, afterward Mrs. Lang-
don, appeared as Colombe." The revival
by Miss Marlowe aroused great interest in
Boston and in a few other cities, attracting
many lovers of dramatic literature who are
rarely seen in the theatre. As Colombe,
Miss Marlowe won a success of esteem. It
can hardly be called more than that.
" Mrs. Taber's impersonation of Colombe,"
said Mr. Clapp, in an exhaustive review,
"was mixed of merit and demerit. It did
not lack grace and ease. On the contrary,
it was strikingly rich in these qualities, even
in difficult situations. On the other hand,
it was deficient in weight, force, and fire."

VII.

DURING the following season (i 895-96)
Miss Marlowe and Mr Taber carried
out two ambitious plans that they had long
had in mind. This was to make an elabo-
rate production of the first part of Shak-
spere's play of " Henry IV," and a pains-
taking and accurate production of "She
Stoops to Conquer."

Not long before, Sir Henry Irving had
suggested to Madame Sarah Bernhardt that
she produce the Shaksperian piece, playing
herself the part of Prince Hal. It may have
been this suggestion that gave the idea of
the production to the Tabers. For many
years the drama had not been given in
America. So to the younger generation it
would have the interest of novelty ; to older
play-goers it would recall memories of the
late James K. Hackett, father of the present
stage favorite of that name. The holidays of
1895 ^^^ Tabers passed at the summer home
of Mr. Taber at Stowe, Vermont. Here
they both worked hard preparing for the
59

6o Sock & Buskin Biographies

new production. It would mark their first
experience in their own stage management,
and they were resolved that the task should
be artistically and thoroughly accomplished.
Mr. Taber engaged Mr. E. Hamilton Bell,
the well-known artist and at one time an
actor, to make plans for the scenery, follow-
ing an example set by Sir Henry Irving and
other stage managers of England, and very
generally ignored here, of soliciting the co-
operation of such men as Alma Tadema and
Burne-Jones for their more elaborate pro-
ductions. Mr. Taber was delighted with
Mr. Bell's plans, and sent them to scene-
painters in New York who were to carry
them out. A few weeks later, on going to
the city to see the work, he was appalled by
the way the color schemes had been vulgar-
ized. Then it was that he learned the lesson
all actor managers must learn, — that their
plans must be carried out under their per-
sonal direction. Mr. Taber gave new in-
structions to the painter, the work was
begun again, and successfully completed.
Late in August the company assembled

yulia Marlowe 6 1

in Milwaukee for rehearsals. Mr. and Mrs.
Taber had prepared a stage version of the
piece of their own, after studying those made
by Mr. Hackett and by Mrs. Inchbold.
When their arrangement had been finished,
they discovered that it practically coincided
with the usual acted version, — a fact which
strengthened Mrs. Taber's faith in stage
tradition. In spite of the hot weather the
rehearsals were vigorously conducted for
two weeks. Most of the stage business
had to be devised, for in that regard the
prompt-book offered little help. Not only
had the actors to be drilled in their parts,
but a large force of supers in armor had to
be carefully trained for the battle scene, — a
wearisome task in itself. Moreover, Mr.
and Mrs. Taber had to learn to wear armor,
in which they had never before appeared on
the stage. To accustom themselves to it,
they wore it in their apartments for several
hours each day, even taking their meals in
it. Even at the dress rehearsal many diffi-
culties remained unsolved. For example, it
was found that, if Sir John Falstaff were

62 Sock & Buskin Biographies

allowed to appear in armor, he could not be
lifted after he fell. Nevertheless, the pro-
duction on the following evening was warmly
commended by the local critics.

It was not surprising, however, that aston-
ishment should have been expressed at the
decision of the Tabers to produce " Henr}''
IV." The explanation is probably to be
found in the generosity of Miss Marlowe,
who had at heart the interests of her husband
rather than her own. There was really no
part in the drama suitable for her. Lady
Percy offered few opportunities, none, at any
rate, worthy of a ''star." Consequently,
Miss Marlowe chose the character of the
Prince of Wales. Those who are familiar
with the work of Mr. Taber need not be
told that Hotspur was eminently suited to
his build and his declamatory style. It
would seem that under the circumstances
the honors must have fallen to Mr. Taber.
But to the performance of Falstaff had been
assigned one of the best Shaksperian actors,
certainly the most comic actor of Shak-
spere in his time, Mr. William F. Owen.

A.s Rtjiiiol.i

Marv in ■• For Bonnie Prince Charlie

yulia Marlowe 63

If for nothing else, the production would
have been remarkable for Mr. Owen's unctu-
ous characterization of the fat old knight.
The humor of P'alstaff has now almost
wholly evaporated. Those who can laugh
at his speeches deserve to be credited less
for their appreciation of wit and fun than
for their reverence for Shakspere. To give
life and merriment to the character, an actor
must have a very unusual fund of humor in
himself. Mr. Owen succeeded where manv
another actor of ability would have com-
pletely failed. His impersonation was elabo-
rately grotesque and faithfully Shaksperian.
It must rank as the best work of its kind
seen on our stage in many a year.

Of Miss Marlowe's " Prince Hal," it is
not altogether pleasant to speak. Perhaps
the kindest thing to be said about it is that
it was a success of curiosity. The public
was interested in seeing one of the most del-
icately feminine of modern actresses mas-
querading in the part of the young roysterer,
trying to assume an air of bravado in utter-
ing his coarse jests, and strutting across the

64 Sock & Buskhi Biographies

stage encased in mail. Miss Marlowe her-
self probably does not look back on those
performances with much satisfaction. She
soon began to dislike the part, and it is said
that she used to cry every time she had to
play it. She could not, of course, create
the least illusion ; and, though she read
the speeches intelligently, her performance
seemed like a bit out of comic opera. Mr.
Taber's performance of Hotspur was, as
might have been expected, vigorous and
heroic, both in bearing and in speech. It
was difficult for him, at the close of the
drama, to accept his defeat by Prince Hal
without subjecting himself and the Prince to
ridicule ; but our audiences are the politest
audiences in the world. In this connection
the mission of the work that Miss Marlowe
has expressed in print is worth quoting :
" Shakspere wrote the piece knowing that
Prince Hal was a national favorite, and must
be made heroic ; and I suppose that this ex-
plains his victory over Hotspur at the end.
No doubt Shakspere was politic, as we all
are in some degree ; and it seems to me

Julia Marlowe 65

that he is rather at war with his conscience
all the way through, wondering how he can
make a sufficient hero out of the material
he has to deal with." Then Miss Marlowe
added, with perhaps a touch of humor that
her interviewer missed, " Besides, I am
very sure that, when Shakspere wrote
* King Henry IV,' he did not think of
pleasing the taste of American audiences."

It was impossible, of course, for an actress
of Miss Marlowe's temperament not to win
favor as Lady Hardcastle in Goldsmith's
comedy. It was equally impossible for this
very modern young player, in spite of her
training in Shakspere, to give vitality to
the old comedy. She made Lady Hard-
castle a charming young girl of the late
nineteenth century, whose frolicking was the
most graceful make-believe. Perhaps the
best comment on the production was made
by Mr. William Winter in the New York
Tribune. Referring to both Mr. and Mrs.
Taber, Mr. Winter remarked: " Neither of
these actors — although both can be playful
and both are apt enough at pleasantry —

66 Sock & Buskin Biographies

displayed the peculiar talent that is essential
for comedy. Goldsmith's dialogue, at its
best, is rather formal, so that even when
Lester Wallack and John Gilbert acted in
this old play, their ingenuity was taxed to
make its language seem fluent and flexible.
Mr. Taber's crude delivery left it in its
original condition of serried composure.
Of all the old dramatists, Vanbrugh alone
used language that it is deliciously easy to
speak ; but the old actors had a way of mak-
ing all language sound as if it were flowing
with spontaneous ease. The new actors
seem not to have inherited that art. Mrs.
Taber was, of course, agreeable as Miss
Hardcastle. She could not easily be other-
wise. The eighteenth-century rural Eng-
lish style, the distinctive quality which
appertains to the characters exactly as a
peculiar fragrance does to a special kind of
rose, was not perceptible ; neither were the
buoyancy, the distinction, the sweep and
dash, and the crisp and finely finished execu-
tive method, which are the Indispensable
characteristics of comedy acting. Mrs.

''■^^^^p^'illlk^^^ ^^^

^^^H
I

♦M*4j,,

'^

fll 13/ M ^1

A> the Countess Valeska

yulia Marloivc 67

Taber seemed to make no effort of the
imagination to assume a foreign identity, in
a distant past time, and amid other environ-
ments than those of the present. Her man-
ner is modern, and her vein is sentiment
rather than humor. The personal sincerity
and sweetness, and the kindly good humor
of the embodiment, will be remembered as
its best attributes."

VIII.

THE season of i 895-96 is further mem-
orable in the history of JuHa Marlowe
as it marks her establishment as a New York
favorite. After her first New York appear-
ances during her earlier seasons, Miss Mar-
lowe avoided the city for several years. It
is true that she continued to play brief en-
gagements at the Harlem Opera House;
but, considered from the rather narrow point
of view of the frequenter of the Broadway
theatres, the Harlem Opera House does not
really belong to New York. There are
many actors, popular throughout the United
States, who seldom or never venture to ap-
pear before Metropolitan audiences. One
of the most artistic as well as one of the
most successful of all our stars is a notable
example, Mr. Sol Smith Russell. Occa-
sionally Mr. Russell gathers courage to
make a new attempt to win the favor of
New York, but thus far he has received little
encouragement. It may be that his art,
which expresses itself in quiet, unemotional

68

Julia Marlowe 69

plays, is too fine to be enjoyed by theatre-
goers used to the highly spiced dramas com-
ing from London and Paris and to the over-
wrought acting that these encourage. A
similar explanation might have been offered
in the case of Miss Marlowe. During her
engagement at Wallack's Theatre, then
Palmer's, she presented an extensive reper-
tory, including " Romeo and Juliet," " She
Stoops to Conquer," " Henrv IV," and " As
You Like It." The papers gave her con-
siderable attention, some praise, and more
or less severe criticism. The audiences did
not fill the play-house, to be sure ; but they
went away pleased. Shrewd observers of
the theatre saw that Miss Marlowe had at
last made a place for herself in New York.
On the opposite side of the street, Mrs.
James Brown Potter was demonstrating how
Juliet ought not to be played ; and those
who saw both Juliets cannot have failed to
admire Miss Marlowe's all the more. It
was during this engagement that Miss Mar-
lowe's Juliet received from Mr. W. I).
Howells in Harper s lVeckl\ this triinitc,

JO Sock & BusJciti Biographies

taken in part from a long article, which
shows how remarkably she had developed in
this character from her first timid and inade-
quate portrayal. : —

" I think that what Mrs. Taber did most
beautifully was to give the sense of Juliet's
youth, and let her nature open from child-
hood to womanhood like an expanding flower
before the eye. It is a child who gives her
love away upon the balcony : it is a woman
who doubts of the potion which is to save
her to her love from the marriage she dreads ;
and every moment of the change, the growth,
has been most delicately suggested, most
distinctly noted, in Mrs. Taber's perform-
ance. I could not see where at any time
she failed, where her art fell short of her
ideal ; and, as her ideal was so beautiful,
I do not know that I could say more than
this in her praise. She had imagined Juliet
with a purity in which there was no capability
of consciousness, of the low selfishness which
makes the inferior artist wish to shine at the
expense of the poet's creation. She was
throughout natural, and to be natural in the

yulia Marlozve 71

ideal is all that art can do or criticism
demand. Mrs, Taber has divined this with
an intelligence from which alone such art
as hers could spring. The impulse, the ten-
derness, the trust, the doubt, the fear, the
courage that make up Shakspere's Juliet are
all delicately expressed in Mrs. Taber's
Juliet, and above everything the angelic
gentleness, which, even more than her pas-
sion, is characteristic of Juliet, is accented
with most sympathetic perfection. Her
adorable sincerity, a thousand times more
charming than any coquetry, for which it
has not an instant's patience, seems to have
imparted itself to the actress, so that she
cannot play false to Juliet or be false to
herself as an artist."

At the close of their regular tour, in the
spring of 1896, Mr. and Mrs. Taber played
a supplementary season in the production
of "The Rivals," given by Mr. Joseph
Jefferson with a " star cast." This cast is,
indeed, so remarkable that it has an interest
here: —

72 Sock & Buskin Biographies

Sir Anthony Absolute .... William H. Crank.

Captain Absolute Robert Taber.

Falkland Joseph Holland.

Bob Acres Joseph Jefferson,

Sir Lucius O' Trigger N. C. Goodwin.

Fag E. M. Holland.

David Francis Wilson.

Mrs. Malaprop Mrs, John Drew.

Lydia Languish . . . Mrs. Julia Marlowe-Taber.
Lucy Miss Fanny Rice,

A performance of this kind is perhaps not
to be considered very seriously. It was
undertaken less with an eye to the interests
of art than to financial profit. From the
commercial point of view it proved to be
eminently successful. The company played
brief engagements in several cities before
crowded houses at considerably advanced
prices. Artistically, the greatest successes
were won, first of course, by Mr. Jefferson
and Mrs. Drew, whose acting in the old
comedy was, however, familiar to the public,
and by Mr. Wilson, who, in spite of an
impossible accent, gave an uncommonly fine
characterization, developed with great origi-
nality and with genuine humor. Mr. Taber,

Colincttc, Art I

L'oliiictte, Act 111

yulia Marlowe y^f

too, received enthusiastic praise for his de-
notement of young Absolute's demure comic
hypocrisy. The charm of Lydia Languish
was everywhere recognized, but it was sub-
jected to criticism for its failure to interpret
accurately the dramatist's intention.

During the following summer Miss Mar-
lowe and Mr. Taber devoted most of their
working hours to preparations for the pro-
duction of a stage version of George Kliot's
" Romola," made by Mr. Elwyn A. Barron.
For many years Mr. Barron had been dis-
tinguished as the leading dramatic critic of
the daily press of Chicago, his writing having
won distinction for its scholarly accuracy, its
insight and fluency. At this time Mr.
Barron was little known as a writer of plays.
It would seem, however, as if his experience
had given him an excellent preparation for
the work. Still, as every one knows, it is
much easier to point out the defect of a play
than to write a good play one's self The
critical faculty is far removed from the ability
to create, and the true qualities are not often
found highly developed in the same writer.

74 Sock & J3uskiu Biographies

The case is somewhat different when the
critic's task is to take the material of another
imagination and to use it in another medium.

" Romola " contains so many strong dra-
matic situations that, before Mr. Barron,
others had been tempted to the task of
transferring it to the stage. Mr. Barron's
version had literar}'^ quality, it was pictur-
esque, it told the story coherently ; but as a
drama it failed. It gave Miss Marlowe
very few chances to display her abilities ;
but in the part of Tito, a far stronger
part, Mr. Taber had a great success. The
piece was presented for a few months only
on the road. New York never saw it.

In spite of its failure to gain popular ap-
proval, Mr. Barron's play won a good deal
of approval from intelligent critics. In the
outlines of its construction it showed con-
siderable ingenuity. Like many plays written
by students of the theatre, it was better in
plan than in execution. Mr. Barron opened
the piece in a public square in Florence, and
in the first act succeeded in beginning the
story of Tito's cajoling of Tessa, and in

Julia Marlowe 75

dramatizing Tito's sale of the jewels, his
meeting with Romola, who passed, bearing
a bunch of lilies in her hand and leading
her blind father, and, finally, his reception
of the news that Baldassare still lived. The
weakness of the act was due largely to the
crowding in of the incidents. The second
act, which passed in the house of Romola,
where her father was very successfully char-
acterized, proved less interesting from the
lack of variety of incident, tliough the love
and the betrothal of Romola and Tito were
very delicately handled. The third act \yas
divided into two scenes, the first in Tessa's
cottage, showing the meeting between Tessa
and Baldassare, and the second in Romola's
garden, where Tito's perfidy in selling the
antiquities of the old scholar was betrayed.
In the fourth act Tito had his dramatic
scene with Cosimo de' Medici, and was pur-
sued by the mob, to escape from which he
leaped into the Arno, only to fall into the
clutches of Baldassare, lying in wait for him.
In spite of his principles, Mr. Barron had
not been able to resist the temptation to

76 Sock & Buskiii Biographies

introduce a bit of melodrama here, the
curtain rising to reveal Tito slowly strangling
to death in the grip of his enemy. This
scene naturally closed the drama ; but, to
wind up his story, Mr. Barron had to resort
to the expedient of an epilogue, which pre-
sented Romola in the gray garb of a nun,
adopting the child of Tessa and Tito, and
receiving consolation from Savonarola.

The production of " Romola " was warmly
recommended for its fidelity to historical de-
tail and for its beauty. The scene in the
garden in the second act had the quality of
an old Florentine picture. But neither
scenery nor good acting can save a play.

Greater success attended the next produc-
tion of Miss Marlowe and Mr. Taber made
later in the season. This was a version of
Francois Coppee's powerful drama, " Les
Jacobites," prepared by Mr. J. I. C. Clarke,
under the title of" Bonnie Prince Charlie."
The piece ran for several months when first
given at the Odeon in Paris. There it had
a remarkable cast, including Madame Weber,
now known as Madame Segond-Weber, and

Jtilia Marlowe yy

remembered in this country for her splendid
impersonations in the support of Mounet-
Sully during the tragedian's brief tour here ;
Paul Mounet, one of the strongest of the
actors who had joined the Fran9ais in
many years; and that robust and eminently
satisfactory player, Albert Lambert, father,
by the way, of the younger Lambert, of the
Fran9ais, one of the most brilliant inter-
preters of romantic parts now living. By
her acting in this piece, Madame Weber
practically established herself in Paris, — a
fact which speaks well for the possibilities in
the chief woman's character. Indeed, the
character of the gentle Scotch girl, Mary,
who devoted herself to the cause of the light-
minded prince, perfectly fitted Miss Mar-
lowe ; and in the part of Mary's old father,
the very embodiment of Scotch loyalty and
self-sacrifice, Mr. Taber succeeded in sink-
ing his mannerisms, and played with most
effective sincerity and power. The work
was too serious to please the great public,
though it attracted large audiences for sev-
eral months ; and it has dropped out of
Miss Marlowe's repertory.

78 Sock & Buskin Biographies

It is always a pity when so fine a piece of
dramatic writing as " Bonnie Prince Charlie "
fails to make a strong appeal to the popular
heart, especially at this time when so many
trivial productions find wide and long accept-
ance. But, as has already been noted in
these pages, the poetic drama has never
found much favor among us. Coppee's
verse naturally suffered from its transference
into another speech ; and, in construction, it
was by no means without a flaw. The great
situation, in fact, the scene where the old
patriarch, Angus, is led to believe that his
daughter has been seduced by the Prince,
and lashes himself into fury, is spoiled by
the knowledge of the audience that the girl
is innocent and that her father's agitation is
due to a misunderstanding. The pictures
of Scotch life, too, made from the point of
view of a romantic Frenchman, hardly en-
dured close examination. Nevertheless, the
drama contained several deeply moving
scenes, and was conceived and executed on a
high plane.

Colincttc, Aft III

Colinette, Act ] I J

IX.

AT the close of the season of 1896-97
Miss Marlowe made two important
changes in her career. She placed herself
under the management of Mr. Charles
Frohman, the foremost theatrical manager in
the country, and the head of the now
famous Theatrical Syndicate, or Trust,
formed not long before ; and she ceased to
travel as co-star with her husband. From
the point of view of business, both changes
promised to be advantageous. Under Mr.
Frohman's direction, Miss Marlowe would
have the benefit of the power of the syndi-
cate, which controlled most of the leading
theatres in the East and the Middle West.
Her decision to star alone was the direct
consequence of her association with the syn-
dicate. The shrewd managers in control of
this combination believed that she would be
more successful alone than as co-star with
her husband. Whatever personal suffering
this change occasioned may not be recorded
in this biography, but the separation will
79

8o Sock & Buskin Biographies

serve to illustrate one of the most familiar
and most distressing features of theatrical
life.

At the close of their last season together
Miss Marlowe passed the summer with her
husband in the pretty littk Normandy vil-
lage of Giverny, the home of Monet, the
impressionist painter, and a quiet resort for
English and American artists. When the
time came for her return to America, Mr.
Taber went to England to begin a new
career. Those who have watched his prog-
ress know how rapidly he became a favorite
there, and how conspicuous a position he
now holds on the English stage. His suc-
cesses have included^his Macduff, in support
of Mr. Forbes Robertson's Macbeth and
the Lady Macbeth of Mrs. Patrick Camp-
bell, and his performance in the company of
Sir Henry Irving of the leading juvenile
part in " Peter the Great."

During the first season with the syndicate
Miss Marlowe played in her old repertory
and in a new piece adapted from the German
of Rudolph Straltz, called in the original

yiilia Marlozue 8i

"The Tall Prussian" and in translation
"The Countess Valeska." It proved to ht
a strong romantic drama, with a part emi-
nently suited to Miss Marlowe's youth and
abilities. In it she gave evidence of more
technical skill than she previously had been
able to attain. She even displayed a certain
authority of manner. After seeing the work
in the English version, one could under-
stand the reason for its vogue in Berlin dur-
ing the previous year. It was one of the
few absolutely serious plays produced in New
York during the season. Of humor it had
none, though a certain relief was afforded by
the subordinate episodes in which the two
young lovers figured. The scene was laid in
Poland in 1807. The Countess Valeska
loved a young Prussian officer, whom she
concealed in her house at the very time
when she was offering hospitality to Napo-
leon, her country's " saviour." By chance
she discovered that her husband was plotting
against the emperor, and patriotism forced
her to betray him. The piece was saturated
with emotion and resounded with the clash

82 Sock & Buskin Biographies

of arms; but the sentiment always rang true,
and the dramatic episodes were developed
without the sacrifice of probability. It was
received with warm appreciation on the
road, and for several weeks in New York
it attracted large audiences to the Knicker-
bocker Theatre. Though Miss Marlowe
had by this time become well established
in the esteem of New York playgoers, this
engagement made her a great favorite. In
fact, it placed her among the most success-
ful of American players. Those who had
previously felt doubts regarding her future,
now saw that her position was assured.

" The Countess Valeska " served Miss
Marlowe for two seasons, presented during
its second year with " As You Like It " and
with a new piece from the French called
" Colinette." It is not unlikely that she
will revive it occasionally in seasons to come.
In " Colinette " she has repeated the success
won in " The Countess Valeska," though
these two pieces are not for one moment
to be ranked together in merit. Whatever
" Colinette " may have been in the original.

Jnlia Marlo7ue 83

in the version prepared by Mr. Henrv Guy
Carleton and revised by Miss Marlowe her-
self, it is one of the most insipid and fatuous
comedies presented in this country in several
seasons. It offered Miss Marlowe, however,
a graceful and charming character, in which
many of her admirers were glad to see her.
To those, however, who had followed her
work from the start and who appreciated her
ambition to become known as an interpreter
of Shakspere, it seemed a pity that she
should waste her talent on such material.
Financially, the season in which she played
" Colinette " was the most prosperous she
had ever known: artistically, it was almost
barren. Not once during the year did she
appear as Juliet, though this was the part
that she wished most to play. It is worth
noting that, during the closing months of
this season. Miss Maude Adams, also man-
aged by Mr. Charles Frohman, made her
triumphal tour with her production ot
" Romeo and Juliet."

Karly in the autumn ot 1899 Miss Mar-
lowe began her season with a revival ot

84 Sock & Bnskin Biographies

" Colinette " and with preparations for the
production of a new drama written for her
by Mr. Clyde Fitch. This work she pre-
sented early in October in Philadelphia and
a few weeks later in New York under the
title of " Barbara Frietchie, the Frederick
Girl." As the name suggests, the piece had
been suggested by Whittier's famous poem.
Mr. Fitch took liberties with the story, as
he had a perfect right to do. He made
Barbara Frietchie a young woman, and the
central figure in a series of romantic and
wholly imaginary incidents which led to the
climax exploited in the poem, where Bar-
bara waves the Union flag in defiance of the
rebel soldiers passing her house. Perhaps
the best that can be said of the piece is that
it provided Miss Marlowe with a character
which she played better than she had ever
played a modern part before. As the young
Southern girl, won over to the cause of the
North by her love for a Northern soldier^
she was delightfully vivacious in the early
scenes ; and, as the character deepened in
feeling and intensity, she showed a remark-

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yiilia Marlowe 85

able command of her abilities, acting with
exceptional sureness and powers.

Unfortunately, the piece did not sustain
the chief part, which, by the way, kept the
actress on the stage nearly all the time.
The first act had decided originality, and was
a natural and graceful bit of writing, infused
with simple and wholesome romance. The
scene disclosed a street in Frederick, with
groups of prettily dressed Southern girls
sitting on the doorsteps. The betrothal,
on the steps, of Barbara and her soldier-
lover was the prettiest love-scene yet written
by Mr. Fitch ; and it was very beautifully
played by Miss Marlowe and Mr. J. H.
Gilmore. The second act, too, at the house
of the clergvman who was to unite the
lovers, contained a good deal of clever
work. But after the sudden separation of
the lovers by the outbreak of fighting, before
they had time to marry, the piece became
unreal and melodramatic, l^ven Miss Mar-
lowe's natural treatment of scenes in the
third act could not keep them from approxi-
mating the ridiculous. The death of Bar-

86 Sock & BtisJcin Biographies

bara's lover, however, in the first scene of
the final act, was very well handled ; but the
flaunting of the flag by the grief-stricken
Barbara proved to be wholly unsuited to
stage purposes, giving the impression not of
a noble patriotism, but of girlish hysteria.

Miss Marlowe is now so strongly estab-
lished that there can be no doubt about the
success of her future career. It is not likely
that she will ever acquire great force : this
is denied her by her physique and by her
temperament ; but she has other qvialities
just as valuable, which have already been
emphasized in this brief narrative. Best of
all, she has taste and insight, both of which
are sure to keep her steadily developing on
artistic lines. Thus far she has not been
seen out of her own country. For several
seasons she has been planning to make her
debut in England. Years ago Madame Sarah
Bernhardt, who has been one of her warmest
admirers, urged her to play in London.
When, finally, she does appear there, she
will show her talent broadened by a valuable
experience in many kinds of acting; and it

Julia Marlowe 87

is safe to predict that her quaHty will be
appreciated. Meanwhile she is still a young
woman, and with her gifts and her ambitions
a great deal of fine work may be expected
from her.

PRINTED BV Gi:0. H. 1-1. LIS
AT 272 CONGRESS STREET
BOSTON, FOR RICHARD
G. BADGER & CO., PUBLISHERS
BOSTON

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